Eric McNulty, M.A.

National Preparedness Leadership Initiative - Harvard

Dr. Steven Goldman

Office of Professional Education - MIT

INTRODUCTION TO

META-LEADERSHIP

Creating Unity of Effort

Agenda

• Introductions

• Leadership

• Meta-Leadership

• Connectivity

• Experience

• Two Great Resources

• Summary

Your Facilitators

Eric McNulty• Associate Director of Harvard University’s National

Preparedness Leadership Initiative. He is responsible for research relating to leadership in the high stakes, high pressure situations typically faced by those charged with preparedness and response.

Steve Goldman• Senior Lecturer at MIT. Has over 35 years’

experience in all aspects of our industry. He developed and co-conducts MIT’s “Crisis Management & Business Continuity” and “Advanced Business Resiliency” programs.

Leadership

“People Follow You”

Leadership Analysis

Great You Lousy

ATTRIBUTES OF

GREAT LEADERS(and the flip side)

Surround themselves

with “great” people

Consistently curious about improving

their capacity to lead

Cope well with uncertainty:

Understand there is a limit to

what they can control and what they

can know

The

Situation Lead Down

Lead Up

Lead Across The Person

THE DIMENSIONS

OF META-LEADERSHIP

Lead Beyond

Connectivity

The

Situation Lead Down

Lead Up

The Person

YOU’RE IT:

THE PERSON

Acquired Patterns

“The Work Room”

Tool Box

Primitive Survival

Patterns

“The Basement”

New Patterns

“The Laboratory”

Creative, Abstract

Thinking

Emotional Intelligence

Upper Brain

TRIPLE “F”

Freeze

Flight, Fight

A META-LEADERSHIP METAPHOR

FOR BRAIN FUNCTION

Go to the

“BASEMENT”

Triple “F”:

FREEZE

FLIGHT

FIGHT

Your Brain:

AMYGDALA HIJACK

AmFAMILIAR

PATTERNSASHOCK

YOUR BRAIN IN TRAINED

RESPONSE TO A PROBLEM

FAMILIAR

ACTION

PATTERNSGo to your

WORK ROOM

Tool Box:

Protocols

Training

Connectivity

Mindfulness

ACTIVATE

Your

trigger script

“I can do this!”

“We can do this!”

WORKING WITH YOUR BRAIN

In Preparedness

Build &

Practice Your

Protocols &

Strategies

EMBED THE

PATTERNS

YOUR BRAIN:

THE THINKING META-LEADER

In Response

3. CLOSE

GAPS

1. ADMIT

BASEMENT

2. TOOL

BOX

The speech or decision you make

IN THE BASEMENT is the one

you are most likely to regret.

Never lead when you are

IN THE BASEMENT…

The problem is NOT in going to the

BASEMENT…

The problem is HOW DEEP into the

BASEMENT you go...

how long you stay there

AND what you do while there.

EXPERIENCE: SHUTTLE VIDEO

WHY EXERCISES ARE IMPORTANT

I Hear I Forget

I See I Remember

I Do I UnderstandConfucius

COGNITIVE BIAS

Confirmation Bias

Availability Bias

Outcome Bias

Self-Serving Bias

Individual Level of Authority

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10None Absolute

AUTHORITY

Individual Level of Influence

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10None Absolute

INFLUENCE

BUILDING INFLUENCE

BEYOND YOUR AUTHORITY

• Liking

• Reciprocity

• Social Proof

• Commitment & Consistency

• Authority

• Scarcity - Robert Cialdini

• Self-awareness

• Self-regulation

• Empathy

• Motivation

• Social skills

- Daniel Goleman

EMOTIONAL

INTELLIGENCE

The

Situation

THE SITUATION

• PICTURE of a Problem/Clarity

• Information: Incomplete & changing

SITUATIONAL AWARENESS:

• Problem & Picture develop in

stages: Anticipate & Articulate

• ONE crisis is MANY different crises

THE SITUATION

SCOPE OF THE SITUATION

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATIONOPEN OR CLOSE?

DIS-CONNECTIVITY:THE DILEMMA OF THE CUBE

Peep hole

A

Peep hole

BPeep hole A

Peep hole B

LEADING CONNECTIVITY

LEADING DOWNYou As Boss

LEADING UPTo Your Boss

LEADING ACROSSOther Units

LEADING BEYONDOther Organizations

Meta-Leadership

Meta-Followership

Your Boss

Your Staff

VERTICAL CONNECTIVITY

• Facilitate information FLOW

• Manage ASSUMPTIONS

• Catalyze good DECISIONS

VERTICAL CONNECTIVITY

• Enable people to manage TIME

• Focus on SOLUTIONS and OUTCOMES

• Prevent SURPRISES

A CULTURE OF LEADERSHIP

SPEAKING

TRUTH TO

POWER

HEARING

TRUTH TO

POWER

LEADING ACROSS & BEYOND

Integrate mission and operations across

departments, units & organizations

Leverage capacity among different

stakeholders

Build teams to foster unity of purpose

THE MOST IMPORTANT

BENEFIT OF CONNECTIVITY

Create leverage up, down, across, and beyond

the system in unified effort

No one organization or person

can know or do everything.

Link assets and knowledge to

solve complex problems.

General Michael Hayden

“Autonomy of action for the parts…

THE OUTCOME OF

EFFECTIVE CONNECTIVITY

…Unity of action for the whole.”

CONNECTIVITY OF EFFORT

No one agency leader,

political leader, or

organizational leader

was in operational

command.

… yet, they all –

including the community –

worked together so well.

… and with remarkable results.

WHO WAS IN CHARGE?

SWARM INTELLIGENCE

Simple rules and social cues

guide complex,

self-organized productivity

CONNECTIVITY IN THE SWARM

WHO CARES

ABOUT ANTS?

…if you look at all the species

that have ever lived on planet

Earth, the most successful were

ants, termites, bees and people.

Why? Because they're the

greatest cooperators.

E.O. Wilson

Structure

Communication Channels

Decision Making Protocols

SWARMINTELLIGENCE

1. Unity of Mission

2. Generosity of Spirit and Action

3. Stay in Lanes/

Help Others Succeed

4. No Ego – No Blame

5. A Foundation of Relationships

SWARM LEADERSHIP

ESTABLISH CONDITIONS IN WHICH SWARM LEADERSHIP IS LIKELY TO

EMERGE

1. Unity of Mission

2. Generosity of Spirit and Action

3. Stay in Lanes/

Help Others Succeed

4. No Ego – No Blame

5. A Foundation of Relationships

SUMMARY

• Questions?

• Two Great Resources

HARVARD’S NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEADERSHIP

INITIATIVE • The NPLI prepares leaders in the public,

private, and non-profit sectors to handle crisis and significant change.

• Participants in our training programs are leaders responsible for safety and security, emergency preparedness, response, and recovery.

• We have trained more than 8,000 leaders, from more than 95 agencies and organizations, in over 30 U.S. States and 10 countries around the world. https://npli.sph.harvard.edu/

MIT’S CRISIS MANAGEMENT & BUSINESS CONTINUITY COURSE

“Crisis Management & Business Continuity”

July 27 – 31, 2020

at MIT in Cambridge MA

http://shortprograms.mit.edu/cm

THANK YOU!

• Please complete the Evaluation Form. Help is available!

• Feel free to e-mail Eric and/or Dr. Steve with questions, comments, follow-up, etc:

Emcnulty@hsph.Harvard.edu

Goldmans@MIT.edu

Eric McNulty, M.A.

National Preparedness Leadership Initiative - Harvard

Dr. Steven Goldman

Office of Professional Education - MIT

INTRODUCTION TO

META-LEADERSHIP

Creating Unity of Effort